I believe there is a political nature to all of our lives. My personal understanding of politics, is admittedly naive.
When I was a child my father served on our small town’s council, and served as mayor. Civil service was portrayed to me as an honourable venture. Many people do not understand it in this way, and I empathize with that understanding.
If reality is a persistent illusion, then it is consistent with that illusion that I find my political nature residing within a persistent imperative to confront the frameworks I find myself within.
A life defined by such an illusion is a continuation; a furtherance of effort to work toward meaning with a sense of purpose. Understanding always comes at a greater price than any of us are prepared to offer. And yet, for a life of meaning there is an exact and unyielding value to this experience few of us are able, if ever, to meet.
This is my individual responsibility toward understanding: to simultaneously strive to change the framework I find myself working within. In other words, complete acceptance.
At the risk of impugning myself by cherry picking from a genius, I offer Friedrich Nietzsche, when he invoked amor fati – acceptance and sanctification of our fate as a pathway to fulfillment. Also, he lost his mind.
I profess that denying aspects of my nature through mindless criticism, ignorance or disregard, is laziness on my part. That is why I hope I am successful in deliberately and publicly exposing myself here.
Vulnerability is a certain pathway into my own laziness. Either I will be overcome, or not, but there can be no question about it.
I remain uncertain as to the nature of the left and right “wings” of political life, just as I do not understand the left and right hemispheres of my brain. While I am certain to find answers in my search, I am equally certain to be proven wrong. And that, in my current understanding, is what it means to remain politically responsible.
In a world of diminishing resources and rising populism, politics in all forms is en vogue. There are risks involved on both sides, but I am trusting that we ingratiate ourselves to our collective futures by gaining political fluency together. And so, in order to succeed, I will need partners on the left and the right.
To that end, I am committed to discovering what political sustainability looks like, beginning in the Okanagan – the place I choose to call home.
There is always more work ahead! Research, invitations, relationship building, education, interviews, editing, and yes…social media! If you are already on your own way, please join me, or invite me to join your community. I have already been blessed to find natural affiliates and partners along the way and I expect no end to the ability to scale these challenges together.
I only ask for your patience, as I am a slow learner, though I strive to listen well.
As We Speak is a nascent community based podcast series interested in understanding the nature of language and relationships. If you’d like to participate, download and listen to the episodes, and then send me a message describing your own intentions. Above everything else, we need one another to succeed as a community of communities.
Stay lofty.
—LINDSAY TROY FRIESEN
